


Reveal (Catching Fire)

by multifandomsfangirl



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Blood and Injury, Gen, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Swearing, based on rtk, is this sunwoo centric idk, kind of, sunwoo juyeon eric hyunjae younghoon haknyeon are brothers, sunwoo pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27987204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandomsfangirl/pseuds/multifandomsfangirl
Summary: “Hyung?”Sunwoo is prepared for a lot of things but what he’s not prepared for is Changmin to almost collapse on him. Pulling Changmin closer all he hears is Changmin whispering “I’m so sorry Sunnie, I’m so sorry.”-As a prince Sunwoo feels that he's been raised to be prepared for any situation. However nothing could have prepared him for a murder in the castle.Based off The Boyz, Road to Kingdom Performance, Reveal (Catching Fire)
Relationships: Kim Sunwoo & Everyone
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. when everything finally fell apart

When Sunwoo came into his room he immediately crashed into his bed, ready to rest after such a busy day. Training with Sangyeon and finalizing the preparations for the ambassador’s visit to their country had drained him of all of his energy and he was ready for a good rest.

He’s pretty sure he was in the middle of a dream which involved him pranking Hyunjae before he’s being jostled awake.

Waking up, all he sees is two eyes staring at his face before shaking him again.

“What the he-”

“Shut up.” Eric covers Sunwoo’s mouth before he can say anything else. “Do you hear that?”

Sunwoo immediately gets up, registering the panic in Eric's voice, and strains until he faintly hears the sounds of yelling and screaming. 

He immediately grabs his dagger on his nightstand as he stands up and walks to the door, Eric following right behind him.

“What’s happening?” he whispers to Eric, still watching the doorway.

“I’m not sure. It woke me up and I immediately came through the tunnels into your room.”

Sunwoo in his tiredness state tries to figure out what to do. It’s too risky to go outside without knowing what is happening but they also are too antsy to stay put.

“Let’s go to Younghoon’s room.”

Eric leads the way, crawling under Sunwoo’s desk until he finds a slightly loose brick. After removing it the hole in the wall is much more apparent as he squeezes back into the way he came in.

Sunwoo watches the door until Eric is in the tunnel before he follows. Both boys hoping Younghoon will know what is happening.

After crawling for a few seconds the tunnel finally opens up enough for the boys to stand and walk. There is little light except for Eric’s phone and the flashlight that Sunwoo had grabbed on the way. 

King Heojun or Sunwoo’s great-great-great grandfather had created the tunnels as a way for him to easily sneak into the rooms of his multiple wives and concubines. Today however Sunwoo and his brothers use it to sneak into each other’s rooms as no one other than the royal family knows about the tunnels.

Younghoon’s bedroom is the furthest room from Sunwoo's and Eric finally reaches it opening a doorway before walking forward into Younghoon’s closet.

Eric slowly opens Younghoon’s closet door as Sunwoo closes the tunnel entrance, both boys listening for signs of safety from behind the doorway.

“Come in already.”

Eric immediately sprints out of the closet jumping on Younghoon’s bed which currently holds Hyunjae. 

“Ugh Eric get off you’re heavy.”

Sunwoo on the other hand slowly walks out, his face showing his sleepiness as he immediately collapses on the chair next to Juyeon. 

“So the whole gang’s here.” 

Sunwoo looks at Juyeon, Haknyeon and Hyunjae who must have had the same idea to gather at Younghoon’s room. However there is no sign of Younghoon anywhere.

“Where’s Younghoon Hyung.”

“I’m not sure either. Juyeon, Haknyeon and I only came here five minutes ago.”

Almost immediately after Hyunaje speaks the closet door opens once more with Younghoon coming out of the doorway.

“Can you guys like, check your phones for once?” he holds up his phone.

“Or at least text me when you come in here. I just wasted like ten minutes trying to wake up Juyeon until I realized he wasn’t even in his bed.”

“Oh sorry”

“Whatever, we have bigger problems.”

“Hyung I heard screaming” Eric cuts in looking worried.

Sunwoo doesn’t want to show it but he is worried as well. The castle is normally very quiet during the night and he can’t think of any reason that there would be yelling.

As if sensing their worry Younghoon immediately puts on his reassuring voice. “Don’t worry I’ve already asked Sangyeon to check what has occurred and Changmin told me no one has broken in. I’m sure it’s just one of the staff.”

“Yeah.” Haknyeon chimes in. “Like maybe the cook found out that Kevin’s the one whose been stealing the leftover bread and not the rats.”

“Didn’t you steal the bread?”

“No I stole the cookies, get it right Hyunjae.”

“Yo look at Eric.” Sunwoo cuts in and motions to his younger brother who for all his energy a few seconds ago is now curled up asleep on the bed.

“How the fuck does he fall asleep like that.” 

“Shut up Juyeon I’m trying to get a picture and you’re going to wake him.” Younghoon says as he snaps another photo of Eric. He smiles before sending it into their group chat.

“Sleepover!” Hyunjae jumps onto Younghoon’s bed, almost landing on Eric. 

Haknyeon jumps right in next to him and burrows underneath the blankets.

“Come on Sunnie get in”

Sunwoo opens his eyes from where he is sitting on his chair.

“Hyung your bed is big but not ‘can hold six people’ big.”

Before Younghoon can get out and grab Sunwoo, someone knocks on Younghoon’s bedroom door. Immediately the boys all straighten up from where they are sitting. Hyunjae, Younghoon and Haknyeon get out of the bed, but not before Haknyeon tugs the blanket up over Eric.

“Come in.” Younghoon calls out, his face that once held a smile was now blank, devoid of any emotion for the person who had knocked.

A messy brown haired man steps into the room.

“Changmin!” Sunwoo lazly puts his arms out for a hug which the other boy gladly obliges. However Sunwoo can tell that something is amiss when he looks into the other boy’s face.

His usual smile is replaced with a worried look and his eyes are glazed over with panic. Looking closer Sunwoo can see the exhaustion on him and that he is shaking as he hugs Sunwoo back.

“Hyung?”

Sunwoo is prepared for a lot of things but what he’s not prepared for is Changmin to almost collapse on him. Pulling Changmin closer all he hears is Changmin whispering “I’m so sorry Sunnie, I’m so sorry.”

Juyeon snaps out of his shock as he pulls Changmin off Sunwoo and towards the bed for him to sit. Hyunjae grabs Sunwoo from the doorway and holds him as he starts to tear up from seeing Changmin cry.

“Changmin what happened?” Younghoon holds Changmin gently as he continues to sob.

“Hyung- Hyung” Changmin gasps out. Haknyeon rubs his back as he tries to calm him down. Eric sits up from where he was sleeping, worry all over his face.

Before Changmin can say anything else Jacob bursts into the room panting like he had run all the way.

He looks at everyone, Sunwoo can see that he had just woken up, before he finds Younghoon.

He shakes as he walks over to the bed and gives Younghoon a letter. 

“Read it.”

The room is quiet, except for the occasional sniffing from Changmin and Sunwoo, as Younghoon opens the letter. He skims the inside and then he freezes. 

“Hyung?” Eric looks at Younghoon worriedly. Everyone else in the room is staring at Younghoon, Sunwoo knows why. Younghoon almost never freezes, ever.

“Our parents- The King and Queen have been murdered.”

☆

 _Murdered?_ Sunwoo thinks. _The King and Queen are Dead? Oh wait so that means-_

“Father and Mother passed away?” Haknyeon looks at Younghoon with disbelief in his eyes.

Before Haknyeon can say anything else Younghoon pulls him in his arms knowing the younger boy all too well. 

“Oh Haknyeon, I know, I know it’s okay.”

Haknyeon breaks down as he grabs Younghoon with all of his strength. Younghoon holds Haknyeon with the same force like he’s scared the younger boy would leave him as he tucks him underneath his head, tears streaming down his face as well.

Sunwoo glances at his other brothers. All of them looking at him with expressions that match his own.

You see, for as much as the King and Queen were good rulers, they weren’t the best family. They married for the sake of marriage and they had Younghoon and Haknyeon for the sake of having kids. They both had their own fun on the side resulting in Sunwoo and Juyeon from the King and Hyunjae and Eric from the Queen.

While Younghoon and Haknyeon were raised underneath the Royal Family. Hyunjae, Juyeon, Sunwoo and Eric were raised together, getting the royal education as they were sons of royal parents but never getting the full respect that every other Prince got. 

His Father was always cordial to him and Juyeon. Giving both of them whatever they wanted, and he knows it was the same for both Hyunjae and Eric with their Mother. However since his mother was simply just some fling that the King had, he never grew up with his Father there.

It wasn’t until recently that he had gotten more involved in the Royal Court as Younghoon had gotten older and brought all of his brothers up with him.

Sunwoo knows all of his brothers are equal in status now but as he looks at Younghoon holding Haknyeon as they both cry together, all he can feel is sadness and guilt.

Sadness as he realizes that he’ll never experience the family love that his two brothers were raised with and guilt that he feels this way right after they have received this horrible news about death.

Sunwoo looks up at Hyunjae who is still holding him as Eric comes over to them, bringing Juyeon with him and the four of them look at each other, all with the same expressions mirroring his own.

So while Younghoon and Haknyeon cry for their parent’s deaths. Hyunjae, Juyeon, Sunwoo and Eric cry for the sake of the Kingdom losing it’s King and Queen.

☆

Sunwoo awkwardly shifts as he sits on his chair. He wishes he had changed out of his pajamas before coming before the court.

After they had all dried their tears Jacob had ushered them out of Younghoon’s room telling them that the royal council had wished to meet with them immediately. 

While his older brother’s had already been wearing their normal clothes, Eric, Sunwoo and Haknyeon had been rushed down in their pajamas. While Sunwoo hadn’t thought about it at first he soon became self aware of his messy state looking at all of the Royal Officials who were dressed in their formal wear. 

“Prince Younghoon.” Hyuksoo, the advisor to the King, addresses his eldest brother who is sitting still in his chair, unlike Sunwoo himself, showing no emotion despite Sunwoo knowing that he had just cried ten minutes prior.

“Our deepest condolences to my Prince.” 

“To you as well Hyuksoo.”

Sunwoo can’t help but flinch when Hyuksoo rises from his bow and meets his eyes. 

Growing up as an illegitimate child meant there were always people who would treat him lesser than from the day he was born. He knows that how his father and mother had him did not equal the value of him as a person and yet it’s hard to remember that when you’ve been judged your entire life.

Hyuksoo was one of those people who made Sunwoo feel insignificant, no matter what. Being the closest advisor to the King meant that he could vocalize his opinions frequently. And he had a lot when it came to Sunwoo and his brothers.

Sunwoo thinks he's been doing a good job at not letting his negative thoughts affect him. But when Hyuksoo smirks he’s being brought back to when he was a child being yelled at for being useless and the product of sin.

Sunwoo feels embarrassment flooding on his face before he quickly turns his head before Hyuksoo can see the pain he had once again caused Sunwoo to feel.

He can see Hyunjae turn his head for a split second, trying to see if he’s okay. However Eric is less discrete and ignores all court formality by grabbing Sunwoo’s hand from the seat next to him. 

Sunwoo looks at him worriedly, doesn’t want either of them to get into trouble but Eric just stares at him defiantly. He seems to know that Sunwoo needs this since he doesn’t pull his arm back, even when the officials start to whisper.

Sunwoo knows they’re probably talking about how unprofessional they are currently being but as Eric smiles and squeezes his hand to remind him that he's there he can’t bring himself to care.

Younghoon clears his throat. “As you can tell, my brother’s and I wish for this meeting to be short as we are still grieving for the loss we have experienced today, and I assume you all are as well?”

He directs the last part of his statement towards the court who all become quiet as they all know they must agree with Younghoon or the implications that they were happy that the King and Queen were killed would mean treason.

Hyuksoo smiles as he motions to the side, his intern Kevin passing him a document from his desk.

“Well, your Highness, rest assured this will only take a while for we have found out who murdered His and Her Majesty.” 

His brother’s sit up from their seats, confusion on all of their faces. How had they found the murderer that fast and why hadn’t they told any of them earlier.

Sunwoo holds his breath as two royal guards he has never seen before go across the room to open the door. They both drag in a man who is chained up before they throw him to the ground beneath Younghoon’s feet.

“SANGYEON” Juyeon yells out before Sunwoo can register what is happening. 

Looking at the man on the ground Sunwoo can feel his heart pounding, blocking out all other sound as he stares at the man who had taught him everything about fighting, the man who he had trained with just hours before, and who was now beaten, disheveled and chained on the ground.

“What is the meaning of this?” Younghoon for the first time shows anger as he tries to go down to help Sangyeon up before the guards direct him back to his chair.

“No, no, no, no, no, no” Eric whispers in shock as he looks down with panic. “Sangyeon wouldn’t- he wouldn’t.”

“Lee Sangyeon” Hyuksoo reads from his paper. “Son of the head guard and Leader of the 4th Battalion is hereby arrested and shall be put to death for treason and murder of the King and Queen of Cre.”

“You can’t do that,” Hyunjae shouts as he stands from his chair. “What evidence do you have against him?”

“He was found snooping in the Royal Wing Floor and when we searched his room we found the knife he had killed them with.”

Hyuksoo pulls out the knife and shows it to the Princes. Sunwoo turns away when he sees it, the blood still fresh on the blade.

“A trial” He speaks up for the first time that night, all eyes in court turning on him. “He deserves a fair trial. We can’t convict him without one.”

“Well of course _your_ Highness.” 

Sunwoo hates the way Hyuksoo pronounces his title with a sarcastic grin.

“But I expect it to be fast. We cannot let the murderer of the King and Queen get away that easily.”

“Next week then.” Younghoon says his tone is non negotiable.

Hyuksoo seems to realize this for he simply bows towards Younghoon and Haknyeon before he goes back to his seat. 

“Umm Court dismissed.” Kevin says in shock as he stares at Sangyeon on the ground.

The guards move to drag Sangyeon back to the dungeons but not before Younghoon tries once again to go to him only to be pushed away.

Sangyeon finally looks up at all of the boys in the court and his face breaks out into a smile, one that’s full of reassurance. 

_I’m fine, don't worry about me._

And it’s then that Sunwoo cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant for this fic to be a oneshot and started writing this story ever since they performed reveal on rtk but as I kept writing it became longer and so i've only finished chapter 1 now. I hope you guys enjoy this and hopefully I'll be done with the second chapter soon.


	2. uncovering your feelings

Sunwoo huddled underneath his blanket with Eric as they both ate the chips they had snuck up from the Kitchens.

A hasty memorial service had been rushed for the King and Queen, one that Younghoon had let Eric and Sunwoo miss as it was only one for the people in the castle, the Council members still trying to decide how to break the news to the public.

Eric and Sunwoo had immediately tried to go downstairs to see Sangyeon but the guards had pushed them away and wouldn’t budge no matter what. 

Eric, the more friendly of the two, had gotten them to give Sangyeon a note that they had written right before going to the dungeons. But other than that the two boys were forced back into their rooms.

The boys, defeated, had decided to instead just wait in Sunwoo’s room until their older brothers were done with the service.

Now however Sunwoo was stressing out. His room, which normally would be bustling with energy when Eric was with him, was too quiet besides the occasional crunch from the chips. He was normally fine with silence but this one was killing him.

He glances over at Eric who grabs another handful of chips and stuffs it in his mouth chewing it as he just stares at the ceiling.

The awkward silence in the room is too much for him to bear. 

“It doesn’t make sense.” Sunwoo speaks up first. 

Eric immediately sits up at the sound of Sunwoo’s voice and turns over to look at his brother while still eating his chips.

“Right? Sangyeon would never- he wouldn’t- I don’t understand” Eric stumbles over his words before he stops to organize his thoughts.

“Sangyeon would never kill the King and Queen right?” Eric’s voice goes higher at the end of his sentences as he tapers off to think about what he had just asked out loud.

Sunwoo also thinks before he answers the question that Eric had thrown out. 

While he knows Sangyeon doesn’t agree with the King and Queen on many matters, especially on how they chose to raise their children, they were mediocre rulers most of the time. With no reason for Sangyeon to want to murder them. 

“No. He wouldn’t. Sangyeon wouldn’t have wanted to kill them anymore than how much you and I would have.” 

“Then why...?” Eric gestures his hand around like it'll give him words for this unexplainable situation.

“Someone has to be framing Sangyeon.” Sunwoo voices what he knows the younger boy is thinking but doesn’t want to say.

“And…. it would have to be someone in the castle wouldn’t it? Who would put the evidence in hyung’s room?” 

Eric nods in agreement, his face turning paler as he realizes something. “Then… who can we trust?”

Both boys look towards Sunwoo’s door. Anyone behind it could be the murderer Sunwoo realizes. The maids who he hears vacuuming the hallway, the knights who are jousting down on the main lawn, the council members who are currently meeting with his older brothers…

_ BANG _

Sunwoo and Eric both scream as the door suddenly flings open. Sunwoo falls back on Eric as he yells out loud. 

“HYUNJAE WHAT THE HELL!”

Sunwoo is prepared to yell at his older brother for scaring them before he notices the anger on his face. Hyunjae ignores him and instead stalks to Sunwoo’s desk chair. Sighing, he bangs his head against the table once and lays there.

Before Sunwoo can ask what happened Juyeon walks in rolling his eyes at his brother's behavior as he closes Sunwoo’s bedroom door. He takes a seat next to Sunwoo’s bed but not before hitting the top of Hyunjae’s head that is still down on the table.

Hyunjae groans and rubs his head which makes Juyeon finally smile before his face turns into one of disappointment again.

“Idiot, what were you thinking saying that to Younghoon.”

“Did you and Younghoon fight again?” Eric asks Hyunjae as he offers the chip bag to him.

“No”

“Yes”

“It wasn’t really a fight” Hyunjae weakly argues.

“Just because you two didn’t fight for as long as you normally do doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fight.” 

Juyeon grabs the chip bag from Eric and shakes it into his mouth. “Sorry Ric I need this.”

“It’s fine.” Eric shrugs holding out his hand as Sunwoo hands him another bag from under the blanket. “Just tell us what happened.”

“Nothing happened. We just argued, like we normally do.” 

Sunwoo and Eric both roll their eyes at the same time.

“We know, you argue all the time hyung. We want to know what the argument was about this time so we can plan for how long you two are going to ignore each other.”

“What” Hyunjae looks shocked at this. “We don’t ignore each other.”

“Umm yes you do.” Eric fixes Hyunjae with a humorless stare. “We all know it starts with you two arguing, then you have a fight, then you ignore each other for around 1-5 days depending on how mad you guys get, and then finally Sangyeon, Haknyeon or Kevin drag you two to see each other and apologize.”

Eric finishes his sentence with another handful of chips while Hyunjae gapes at Eric, his mouth opens to say something before he closes it in shock.

“There's a sequence?”

“Yes” Juyeon, Sunwoo, and Eric reply in unison.

“But that’s not important,” Sunwoo interrupts Hyunjae’s train of thought before he starts questioning how much he and Younghoon fight. “What Eric and I want to know is what happened. Was it bad?”

“Bad enough where I think Younghoon and Haknyeon are going to be avoiding us for a while.” Juyeon responds instead.

That makes Sunwoo and Eric pause as they both turn to look at Hyunjae who now has his head in his hands.

“Hak? You got Haknyeon mad at you?”

“What could you possibly say to make Haknyeon avoid you?”

“Listen I didn’t say anything bad okay.” Hyunjae tone takes on a defiant one before fading off into more of a mumble.

“All I said was that I’m glad that the bitch, or their mother, is dead.”

“Yeah that will do it.” Eric sighs as he closes his eyes in exasperation. “May I ask, what the hell were you thinking hyung.”

“Look” Hyunjae stands up and Sunwoo can still see the traces of anger in his eyes from his previous argument. “We were downstairs ready to come up when Younghoon handed me a tissue and I was like ‘why the hell are you giving me this’ and you know what he said to me?

Sunwoo shakes his head knowing that Hyunjae doesn’t really want him to answer when he is in the middle of a rant.

“He says ‘won’t you need it? Your mother passed away.’”

Sunwoo winces at that. Maybe Younghoon was in the wrong here. Hyunjae, and Eric hated anyone close to them referring to the Queen as their mother and it was the same for Juyeon and Sunwoo. It seemed wrong for two people to have such a dear title when they never acted as parents in the first place.

“So obviously I got angry, you guys know I hate anyone calling her my mother, and then we fought and I said that I was glad she was dead which made Younghoon so angry that he stalked off and Haknyeon obviously followed him and here we are.”

“Eating chips while Haknyeon is probably trying to comfort Younghoon. How nice.” Juyeon drawls out as Hyunjae gives him a glare.

Sunwoo sighs as he tries to find the right words. “Hyunjae is right, Younghoon shouldn’t have said that.” 

“Thank you Sunwoo.”

“But you shouldn’t have said that either hyung.” Sunwoo addresses Hyunjae who now looks at him betrayed. “Younghoon is probably going through a lot and calling his mother a bitch is not going to make him feel better.”

“I do agree that she was a bitch though.” Eric buts in. “Like that lady I hate her guts, absolutely hate her.”

As if to display extra measure Eric takes a loud crunch out of his chips before choking and reaching for water.

Hyunjae sighs and passes him the cup getting a thumbs up in return. Sunwoo softly patted Eric’s back while he simultaneously glared at Juyeon.

_ Talk to Hyunjae you idiot. I don't know what to say and Eric isn’t good at the whole expressing emotion thing. _

As if to prove a point his younger brother chokes again, this time on the water he’s drinking.

Juyeon finally turns towards Hyunjae; Sunwoo can see his brain working to find the right words to say. “Younghoon's parents just died hyung.”

“So what?”

“Well, he obviously cared about them a lot. I mean what if one of us died and someone called us a bitch. You probably would have been angry as well.”

Sunwoo sighed. Apparently none of his brothers could talk about their feelings.

“What Juyeon means to say is that we may hate the King and Queen as parents but we should still be mindful of what Younghoon and Haknyeon feel towards them.”

“Yeah” Juyeon nods. “What Sunwoo said.”

“You’re telling me you’ve seen the King and Queen act lovingly towards Younghoon and Haknyeon?”

“Well no but-”

“I understand what you guys are saying okay.” Hyunjae stands up frustrated. “I get it, but maybe I’m just tired of always considering Younghoon’s feelings when he doesn’t give a damn about ours.”

“Hyung-”

“NO.” Hyunjae falls back into his seat surprised at his own outburst. “I- I’m so tired of Younghoon acting like I’m the one hurting him. I’m hurting as well why can’t he see that.”

“Is it bad that I don’t care that they're dead? I mean these are the people who simply just stood by while we were being mentally abused by the other members in the Castle, the people who made me believe that I was worthless, the people who I’ve tried so hard to protect you guys from.”

“And- and.” Hyunjae pauses. 

He rubs his eyes, exhaustion evident all over his face. His brown hair, which was perfectly styled in the morning, now all over the place as he ran his hand through his hair once again. 

“Our parents- if they can even be called that- why couldn’t they have acted as our parents? Why couldn’t they have-”

Juyeon grabs Hyunjae and envelopes him in a hug before he can continue. Sunwoo watches as his two older brothers, the strongest people he knows in his life, break down right in front of him. 

Unable to look at them longer he holds Eric closer and wishes he had an answer to Hyunjae.

_ I wish they acted as our parents as well. _

☆

Sunwoo was getting tired of this.

It had been a few days since what Eric was calling “The Big One”. Sunwoo thinks it’s a stupid name to call a fight but it’s catchy so he’ll use it.

Normally he would have expected it, after all Younghoon and Hyunjae argued all the time, however this time was different.

It wasn’t a simple argument this time. No this was one that Sunwoo knows they should have addressed a long time ago. After all, the subject of their parents was a touchy one that they never discussed. Sunwoo wishes they had talked about it before as now the feelings that everyone had kept inside have bubbled to the edge with no way to stop it.

Younghoon and Hyunjae were still ignoring each other as they would. However Sunwoo hasn’t even talked to Haknyeon which meant the younger was ignoring them as well. Juyeon and Eric were on Hyunjae’s side for this one as well leaving Sunwoo as the only middle ground. However after Younghoon had ignored him at breakfast as well he had joined Hyunjae and now all of the siblings were in non speaking terms.

The only time they had ever talked to each other was when they had meetings with the other’s to discuss Sangyeon’s fate. Like when they decided to let Kevin be their defense for the court proceedings.

_ “Okay but where are we going to find someone we trust and is someone who can defend Sangyeon well?” Hyunjae points out frustrated. With the murderer still not caught everyone agreed on one thing, they couldn’t trust anyone. _

_ “How about Kevin?” Younghoon asks. Kevin looks at him in shock. _

_ “What the hell- I can’t defend Sangyeon. _

_ “Kevin we can’t trust anyone here except you. Besides isn’t this what you’ve been interning here for? This is what you’ve been training here for.” _

_ Kevin blinks in shock. “I mean yes but I still work under the council, remember, they aren’t going to let me leave so suddenly.” _

_ “Kev, I’m the next King.” Younghoon states plainly. “They aren’t going to object if I say that I hired you.” _

_ “Oh. Right.” _

Working to free Sangyeon was a good enough distraction for most of them to forget about the argument but whenever they met together Sunwoo could tell that the glares were proof that none of them were about to back down from this argument.

“This is so stupid.” He rants to Chanhee and Changmin. The trio were technically not supposed to be together but the Kitchens were currently empty and Sunwoo knows no one was going to walk in when there was a meeting going on upstairs so all three of them were now camped out in a cupboard. 

“I mean I haven’t talked to Younghoon in so long. You would think being the next King would mean you would be more diplomatic right?”

Changmin nods along, Sunwoo is almost eighty percent sure that he’s not listening, and reaches for the muffin that is perched next to them.

Chanhee slaps his hand away. “No Changmin we can’t eat those, I know for a fact that they need it for tomorrow.”

Changmin pouts discouraged before Sunwoo sighs and passes him a cookie which the other boy glady takes.

“Are you guys even listening to me?”

“Hyunjae and Younghoon are fighting, this fight is really big, and they’re all being stupid about it.” Chanhee lists off before he notices Sunwoo’s pout.

Sighing Chanhee gives Sunwoo the muffin that Changmin had just tried to eat.

“Hey what is this favoritism. You just said I couldn’t eat that.”

“Shhh Sunnie needs it.”

Sunwoo rolls his eyes but bites into the muffin all the same. Cook was a strict lady but an amazing cook and he wasn’t going to pass at any opportunity to eat something of hers. Sunwoo continues to chew on his food evidently losing his train of thought.

“Hey wait a minute.” Sunwoo puts down the muffin as he stares at Chanhee. “Did you just distract me with food?”

The blonde boy sighs as he hands Changmin another cookie. “I mean it worked right?”

“Chanhee” Sunwoo whines. “You’re good with them so help me.”

Chanhee’s lips turn up with a quick smile towards the younger one before sighing. “Sunwoo I would help if I could. But I think we all know this fight is different.”

“Besides, forget about them for a second.” Chanhee’s eyes are serious and Sunwoo swallows the muffin knowing he’s about to be lectured.

He’s blatantly surprised when Chanhee instead hesitates and then takes his hand carefully as if he’s afraid that Sunwoo might break if he moves faster.

“Sunnie.” He hesitates until Changmin, who still has a cookie in his mouth, pats him on his shoulders softly. Chanhee squares up, determined at that and continues on

“I’m worried about Younghoon and Hyunjae. I always am. Although they’re making it really hard for me to not yell at them.” Chanhee frowns as he gets to the last part of his sentence, Sunwoo unconsciously reaches out to smooth his forehead which is creasing from the stress of his two eldest brothers.

But Chanhee continues on “I’m mostly worried about-”

“So am I!”

“-Changmin and I are mostly worried about you.”

“Me?” Sunwoo asks incredulously. Why would Chanhee and Changmin be worried about him?

Changmin speaks up when Chanhee doesn’t continue “I mean Sunwoo even when Younghoon and Hyunjae fight you would never let that affect you. Normally you would still talk to both of them but this time- “

“This time you’re ignoring Younghoon. That’s not a bad thing.” Chanhee interjects when he notices Sunwoo panicking. “We’re not mad at you for that, we just are concerned?”

“But Younghoon-”

“Forget about Younghoon and Hyunjae for a moment.” Changmin interrupts, Sunwoo hears the strength in Changmin’s voice, it reminds him of the tone the older boy uses to command the guards.

Changmin continues on, his voice strong, the hand gripping his own is comforting. “Forget about their emotions. What do you feel Sunwoo? Are you angry? Are you upset?”

“I mean Sunwoo you’re always so worried about your brothers. When are you going to think about yourself?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry this chapter took so long. honestly this story when writing it goes in a different route then what i planned but thats fine it just takes longer for me to write it lol. anyway hopefully you guys enjoyed it! thank you


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